Topic: Downloadable Content (Read 2376 times)

koldfuzion · « **on:** April 28, 2004, 03:38:00 PM »

Going to keep this short and sweet. But not to forget some huge props to flattspott, for putting mucho time into the data this DB provides and also to Blazed for hosting the videos. (of course BJ and UnleashX for enabling us, yes both dashboards will be using this.)

Maybe at a later date we can provide mini-game cover image and ESRB image? will think about that.

while not 100% complete from the web-user viewpoint. Game Preview video download is 100% ready for MXM Actionscripting adn while I was planning to do it myself, it wouldnt be right to horde the information.

First, the web-view of the games database. http://www.xbox-skin...games/index.php

So lets get started.

Big question---> How?

You can get the info needed two ways. And you will need to get this data either once, if using the full database, or each time for each game based on the HEXID

1. Full Database http://www.xbox-skin...mes/gamesdb.xml

2. Using the HexID of the game to check for the single item xml and pulling only that xml data. ie http://www.xbox-skin...b4e0002</b>.xml for Airforce Delta Storm.

Then you only need to determine if the video is available, if you want it , and how to handle it. You then send a video request to the website and work the file and possible cookie that is returned.

in the actionscripts, you send the video request using http://www.xbox-skin...?<b>sid=135</b>

XML Data:
The sid in the url is the VidID value in the XML.

Video : 0=No Video Download, 1=WMV, 2=XMV

VC= Video Compression: 0=No Compression, 1=RAR, 2=ZIP

Retrieve the data:

Key points to check for are:
1. is the game in the DB, or single XML available?
2. is video available?
3. if video is available, how does it need to be handled? (RAR, ZIP, WMV, XMV)?

And all additinal info in the XML can be displayed, or not.

Keep in mind. Video downloads may or may-not be restricted to a certain download count. Much like the way AXS does the skins now.

When that download count is reached, a cookie will be sent so you can display that the limit has been reached, and how long before downloading can resume. (this might still need some work from BJ) Use the webdownload and click on 12 links or so)

The cookie you need to look for is named TimeLeft and its value will read something like :

"Everyone is limited to 10 Downloads in 24 hours. You have 2 hours 34minutes and 12 seconds to wait before downloads are re-enabled"

Not too short, and hopefully not too confusing. If it is confusing, let me know and i will clarify.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

user posted image

Current Working code (except i have the filefetches rem'd for now till i get the thumbs and covers uploaded and renamed.

Call from context, it makes no self references so you can name whatever you want to.

kudos to Jezz for the loaddialog from xml he used in the IPDialog script. Its awesome code and was used extensively with modification. Made the script build go extremely fast.

koldfuzion · « **Reply #1 on:** April 28, 2004, 03:53:00 PM »

also... if you can master this, then skin downloading and actionscript downloading will be just as easy

flattspott · « **Reply #2 on:** April 28, 2004, 05:14:00 PM »

short and sweet huh? Just kidding. Sounds good to me <

geniusalz · « **Reply #3 on:** April 28, 2004, 07:14:00 PM »

Definitely sweet. Are all the preview videos up? I was thinking of redoing some of them. These are my thoughts on what the videos should be like:
-All in-game footage. Prefereably some action, or scenes cut and pasted together. Should show no titles (game name, dev name) or intro.
-No audio, because it sounds weird scrolling through.
-Low bitrate, about 300 kbits > Smoother scrolling

Besides that, I was thinking about a system where scripts could request files. e.g. skins for (originally) no-resource games, sound effects, etc

So you could let scripters upload files, and then put URLs in the script to download those optional files. <

koldfuzion · « **Reply #4 on:** April 28, 2004, 08:21:00 PM »

geniusalz · « **Reply #5 on:** April 28, 2004, 08:51:00 PM »

500 seems ok. As for the game title screen, that's like a pet peeve of mine. Don't really like it, because the game name is there anyway when you're scrolling through your list. But I guess it's fine, because who am I to tell you how to make them when you're the one making them

koldfuzion · « **Reply #6 on:** May 03, 2004, 09:55:00 PM »

anyone have anything that works yet?

Edited to remove old code

This post has been edited by koldfuzion: May 5 2004, 12:09 PM <

flattspott · « **Reply #7 on:** May 04, 2004, 01:48:00 AM »

I don't know for sure but you really should make it a point to try and read both the ActionScript Readme and the Change Log. Not trying to be mean spirited or anything like that. It's just that BJ revamped the webfile fetch in the 1197 build.

koldfuzion · « **Reply #8 on:** May 04, 2004, 03:02:00 AM »

well, understandable to state, but i did read it. over and over, tried numerous ways of doing it, im just not getting the results returned. Yes, i tried the new var after the url too. I either get a lockup, or nothing.

Once i run the script I may or may not be able to navigate the main menu again even though i can quit the script and reboot with the controller... weird.

Nice try though, thank you for taking the time to provide a working sample.

BLazeD · « **Reply #9 on:** May 04, 2004, 04:35:00 AM »

koldfuzion · « **Reply #10 on:** May 04, 2004, 05:34:00 AM »

hold on, my dumb ass is a wip behind.. just noticed im still using 1172 and not 1197. Thanks flattspot, you were helpful after all, image that.

getting the XML AND the rar using the sendvid.php? work fine now.

the xml and vid get from xbox-skins is fine now too.

I feel like an ass now, but when do i not?

This post has been edited by koldfuzion: May 4 2004, 12:59 PM <

koldfuzion · « **Reply #11 on:** May 04, 2004, 06:10:00 AM »

Edit, see first post for code

This post has been edited by koldfuzion: May 4 2004, 09:04 PM <

koldfuzion · « **Reply #12 on:** May 04, 2004, 06:16:00 AM »

Blazed, you want to put the game covers in the same general location too? They are just mini ones like you see on walmart.com.

I can add code to the admin to handle them but i will need a directory to put them in. im thinking "covers" in the same location as the "XML" folder

329 are 15 mb so far. I think it would be easier to see whats missing if they could be compared against the same list.

This post has been edited by koldfuzion: May 4 2004, 01:17 PM <

chilin_dude · « **Reply #13 on:** May 04, 2004, 05:18:00 AM »

Great progress Koldfuzion, how about adding thumbnails to it as well? And how about instead of just listing the age rating an icon for the age rating?

koldfuzion · « **Reply #14 on:** May 04, 2004, 06:41:00 AM »

for the web listing, we got away from icons and the soon to be sent code doesnt even shot the values unless you do a mouseover of the "+" sign that is shown on the webpage. This is only to show you that the value or content exists, the real work should be done by the scripts, web side, the user should just be clicking the download links.

Eventually, the scripts will download the videos, download the covers and the ESRB graphic and dump them all into the game directory.

If the skins are set to use resource calls using basenames , then no one will be forced the reboot to see the content immediately in the skins that support all three.

Edit: What would the source be for the thumbnails? I suppose the larger walmart.com cover images could be cropped to a decent thumb, but who is gonna do it? It was a pain just to get the 329 mini covers (i definitely thank adobe for adding actions to photoshop 7, saved me an butt-load of time but was still a lengthy process.)

um, friendly sarcasm aside. Thanks for pointing me to my error flattspott. Its great to see this stuff work, even though it still has a way to go. On your skinfix script to use basenames, you are including the in the script the thumbs/covers basenames too?

BJ, a little concern about a user choosing "download videos" on the context menu more than once before final execution. Maybe a function to disable controller input for a specific time, and/or timeout?

msgbox "Controller input will disabled during video download, press a button to continue, black to quit"

CNTLRLOCK 20000 <<- Lock controller input with time to wait, follow
Webfilefetch var path result <<- get file if bad result immediately unlock (i havent played with the results yet, so i dont know what im talking about)
If result == "404" GOTO Unlock
CNTLRUNLOCK
GOTO File cleanup

:Unlock
CNTRLUNLOCK
GOTO QUIT

This post has been edited by koldfuzion: May 4 2004, 02:39 PM <

Author Topic: Downloadable Content (Read 2376 times)